Beer Calendar: Hang Out With the Makin' Noise and Brewtography Projects

The Colorado Brewers Guild has elected four new members to its eleven-member board of directors — all of whom will get a lesson in civics as the legislative session begins at the State Capitol this month. They are Carrie Knose of Living the Dream Brewing, Mike Lawinski of Fate Brewing, Dave Axelrod of Broken Compass and Dave Bergen of Joyride Brewing. They join Chris Wright of Pikes Peak Brewing, Matt Cutter of Upslope Brewing, Tim Myers of Strange Craft, Mike Bristol of Bristol Brewing, Brian O’Connell of Renegade Brewing, Wynne Odell of Odell Brewing and Kristen Muraro of Ska Brewing.

Their goals will be to pay attention to any legislation that could affect craft breweries, in addition to several other projects, including the rollout of health-care options for guild members, hosting new educational opportunities for brewers, and focusing on issues like brand management, quality and safety.

Two summers ago, the Brewers Guild split in two after disagreements over leadership and bylaws. The acrimonious situation was mostly resolved by the end of 2016, however, when the breweries agreed to create new bylaws and hire a new director, Andres Gil Zaldana.

Keep reading for the best craft-beer events through February 1.

Wednesday, January 17
Wit's End Brewing moved into Strange Craft at the end of the year, and now you can meet brewers Tim Myers, Scott Witsoe and Tyler Bies for a conversation about seasonal ingredients and to ask questions about their co-habitation at Strange. The StrangeWit Meet & Greet panel discussion (planned as a quarterly event) starts at 4:30 p.m., but you can grab a beer at 4. Tickets are $10 in advance on eventbrite, or $15 at the door.

Join Dry Dock Brewing at noon for the annual tapping of Poor Richard's Ale, an unusual "colonial-style" ale with corn and molasses — and raise a pint in celebration of the 312th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth.

Irish Blessing, which Boulder Beer Company released on draft back in February, will be canned for the first time this month, and both the original brewery and the new Boulder Beer outpost on Walnut Street will host rollout parties starting at 5:30 p.m. For the first half-hour, Boulder Beer will give away free pints of the beer, an oak-aged coffee stout brewed with OZO Coffee and aged on Tullamore D.E.W. Irish whiskey-soaked oak chips. There will be live music at 5:30 p.m. at the Pub on Wilderness and at 7 p.m. at Boulder Beer on Walnut.

Thursday, January 18
Goed Zuur taps four Paradox Beer Company brews that guests can pair with suggested dishes starting at 6 p.m. The beers are Skully Barrel #53 Komet Sitra, a dry-hopped sour that blends the tropical and citrus notes of Comet and Citra hops with the brewery's barrel-aged golden sour; Skully Barrel #54 Cherry Crisp, a sour ale made with Montmorency cherries; Skully Barrel #56 Rose Is Bae, which blends Sangiovese grapes with a barrel-aged wild sour golden; and Skully Barrel #57 Piña Cielo, a wild golden ale that began with the open fermenting of whole pineapples in a 300-gallon coolship and ended with the addition of Ceylon cinnamon and dark brown sugar.

Friday, January 19
Mockery Brewing is excited to announce the return of its very first bottle release — and one of its favorite beers: Schizophrenic Narcoleptic. It's "a bigger, badder version of our Export Coffee Stout, aged twice as long in artisanal vanilla-extract barrels that resulted in a harmonic melding of roasted grains, smooth cold-brewed coffee and a semi-sweet dessert-like finish," the brewery says. Bottles will go on sale at 2 p.m.

Every year, Colorado Plus Brewpub brings out the big guns for its Big Barrel Aged Beer Festival. This year, the brewpub will pour Bull & Bush Barrel Aged Man Beer, Rockyard Rockness Monster, Crooked Stave Nightmare on Brett, Dry Dock Coconut Belgian Dark, Epic Big Bad Baptista, Funkwerks Duplicity, Avery Samael's, Colorado Plus Cookie Zilla and more. Beers go on tap at 11 a.m.

Caution Brewing in Lakewood will celebrate its sixth anniversary with a two-day party starting at 3 p.m. To start with, the brewery will tap its anniversary beer, Hold the Door Baltic Porter, which was made with barrel staves soaked in port. There will also be other beer experiments, a food truck and live music at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Caution will tap more new beers and have another food truck on hand.

Something Brewery in Brighton taps Cherry Pit of Misery, a 10 percent ABV tart cherry Belgian dark strong ale, at 3 p.m. The beer will be available on tap and in Crowlers — but only 250 of them — to go.

Saturday, January 20
If you've been to a beer festival or a brewery at some point in the past four years, there's a good chance you've seen Dustin Hall quietly, kindly taking photos of everyone and everything. Over that time, he has ceaselessly traveled the state, recording the craft-beer industry and garnering goodwill under the Brewtography Project moniker. Although photographing breweries and the people who work there began as a hobby for Hall, it's become an all-consuming passion, and after a couple years of work, he and his wife, Marcia, are finally releasing Discovering Colorado Breweries, a 232-page coffee-table book filled with photographs of more than seventy Colorado breweries. The official book release takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. at Falling Rock Tap House, where the Halls will celebrate and sign copies of the book, which retails for $49.99. This will also be the time for people who supported the Brewtography Project's successful Kickstarter campaign to pick up their rewards; anyone who buys a copy of the book will also receive a free beer. For more information on the project, where to buy the book and other events surrounding its release, go to brewtographyproject.com.

The Makin' Noise beer project will celebrate its one-year anniversary today — also the anniversary of Inauguration Day — by tapping five different stouts at five different breweries. As always, $1 from each pint sold will be donated to local charities, most of which support people and causes that are threatened by the current administration. In addition, Woods Boss Brewing will host a one-year-anniversary Makin' Noise art show; proceeds from the sale of artwork will be donated to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. Here are the details of the tappings: Ratio Beerworks will open at noon and donate money to Youth on Record; Our Mutual Friend opens at 2 p.m. and will donate to TBA; The Post Brewing in Lafayette opens at 10 a.m. and will support the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition; Call to Arms, opening at noon, will donate money to Clothes to Kids Denver; and Goldspot Brewing, opening at noon, is supporting Conservation Colorado.

Great Divide Brewing will release the latest beer in its Local Knowledge series, Mexican Chocolate Yeti, at noon in both of its taprooms, with the beer available on draft and in six-packs of bottles to go. Another variation on the brewery's flagship Yeti Imperial Stout, this one was brewed with a variety of spices, vanilla, coffee and Cholaca liquid cacao "to invoke the flavors of a Mexican hot chocolate (traditionally called champurrado)," Great Divide says. Local Knowledge is Great Divide's hyper-limited, hyper-local pilot series. These single-batch pilot brews are exclusively available on draft and in six-packs at the Great Divide Tap Room and Barrel Bar.

Fiction Beer Company debuts Magic Wallet, a passion-fruit "milkshake"-style IPA that was double-dry-hopped with Medusa and El Dorado hops and made with passion fruit, lactose and vanilla beans; there are also oats, wheat and Golden Promise malts in the beer. Milkshake IPAs have lactose and sweet ingredients.

Zuni Street Brewing's ten-barrel system "has been put to the test" over the past ten months since the brewery opened, and now the the beer maker wants to celebrate its 100th batch, Noble Brown Ale, in honor of the milestone. There will be a live performance from 2 to 5 p.m., the Farm to Truck food truck and a ceremonial tapping at 4 p.m.

Spangalang Brewing releases two different bottled versions of Le Voyage, its barrel-aged tripel with Brettanomyces yeast, at noon. The OG Le Voyage is elegant and earthy, while the fruited version, which contains a blend of apricots, cherries and blueberries, is tart and vibrant," the brewery says. Quantities, on draft and in bottles, are very limited.

TRVE Brewing releases this year's version of Ecate at noon, on draft and in bottles. The beer is a golden mixed-culture ale aged on grape pomace. There will be just under 650 bottles available.

Diebolt Brewing is releasing Radiola, a barrel-aged saison fermented with Brettanomyces yeast, at noon. The beer will be sold on draft and in 22-ounce bomber bottles to go. The brewery will also be playing old records all day to set the mood (feel free to bring down your favorite records to play as well). "Fermented with a combination of Belgian saison and Brettanomyces yeast, and then laid down in second-use Cabernet Sauvignon barrels for twelve months, this funky farmhouse favorite is setting the rhythm with notes of pear and apple that drop into a slightly tart back beat while the finish keeps spinning you back for more," Diebolt says. My Angels Fine Cuisine food truck will be outside.

Cannonball Creek Brewing in Golden will celebrate its fifth anniversary today and tomorrow with numerous beer tappings, food and live music. Check the brewery's Facebook page for details.

Sunday, January 21
In celebration of the Makin' Noise beer project’s first anniversary — celebrated yesterday at five different breweries — Ratio Beerworks is hosting a collaborative tapping of four of the most recent Makin' Noise beers, all of them stouts, from 2 to 5 p.m. There will also be a live performance from Denver band Battle Pussy, with proceeds from beer sales benefiting Youth on Record. Ratio, Goldspot, Our Mutual Friend and the Post will all have their brews on tap. Makin' Noise "was created as a collaborative brewing series among a number of rotating breweries aimed to stamp out intolerance and hate. These collaboration beers also help to raise funds and awareness for some of the Denver community’s most underserved nonprofit organizations in need."

Tuesday, January 23
Join Goldspot Brewing for the re-release of Sweet Romance Lavender Honey Stout, a winter beer using one of the brewery's favorite flowers. The Elevation 5280 food truck will be on hand.

Thursday, January 25
The Denver Press Club continues its monthly series, Hot Picks in Cold Beer, at 6:30 p.m. when Gary Valliere, host of American Craft Beer Radio, and...yours truly, Jonathan Shikes, will discuss milestones in Denver brewing history and talk about a few beers in particular. The cost is $10 for members, $12 for non-members.

Friday, January 26
Black Project Wild & Spontaneous Ales will celebrate its fourth anniversary as a brewery today through Sunday. Details are shrouded in mystery, but there will likely be lots of sour beers and festivities.

Fiction Beer Company will debut Madame Psychosis, a New England-style IPA, in cans. Inspired by the book, Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, the beer is loaded with Citra, Idaho 7, Mandarina Bavaria and Mosaic hops. Flavors of ripe papaya and mango with orange zest and peach skin.

Saturday, January 27
If you like imperial stouts, then you're going to want to stop by River North Brewery, which will have all of its biggest, darkest brews together on tap. They include Mr. Sandman, Toasted Coconut Mr. Sandman, Mayan Chocolate Mr. Sandman, Barrel Aged Mr. Sandman, Single Cask Mr. Sandman Rum, Avarice, Barrel Aged Avarice 2017, Nightmare Fuel, Barrel Aged Nightmare Fuel, Fancy Effing Stout, 2016 Decennial: Shadowman
2017 Vicennial: Barrel Aged Shadowman, and more. "Oh, and just for the hell of it, we will be filling Crowlers of everything," the brewery says. There will be food by Sabas Ethiopian.

Thursday, February 1
The Mountain Sun Pub company, which owns the Vine Street Pub in Denver and four other locations in Boulder and Longmont, will celebrate a quarter century of stouts with its 25th annual Stout Month celebration. Over the next 28 days, the pubs and breweries will tap at least 31 Mountain Sun stouts and barrel-aged stouts, including 48 Smooth Chai Stout, Addition Imperial Coffee Stout, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Addition Imperial Coffee Stout, Nihilist Russian Imperial Stout, Dark Harvest Pumpkin Stout, Chocolate Dip Stout, Space Odyssey Stout, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Oatimus Prime Imperial Oatmeal Stout and Chocolate Thunder Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout. In addition, stouts from more than thirty other Colorado breweries will rotate through their tap boards. Mountain Sun, Southern Sun, Under the Sun, Vine Street, and Longs Peak Pubs will also host special events, concerts, tastings, giveaways, and gatherings to pay homage to the great stout. Stay tuned to their Facebook pages for details and specific beer offerings.

Black Sky Brewery will also be celebrating stout month during the entire month of February, bringing out a variety of dark beers. To start off with, the brewery will feature Blackberry Stout, Chocolate Fudge Brownie Milk Stout, Mint Pistachio Stout, Fallen Angel Oatmeal Stout, and Scotch Barrel Aged Chocolate Stout.

Call to Arms Brewing hosts a 3 p.m. tapping and bottle release of Majestic Wolf Lamp, an oak-aged blended Belgian-style sour with black currants. "At 8 percent ABV, this complex, jammy blend offers notes of boysenberry and black currant with a pronounced yet balanced sour finish. Majestic Wolf Lamp is a beaming magenta-hued stunner and exudes pure farm stand blackberry jam," the brewery says. There are only 125 bottles available — with a limit of two per person at $12 each. It will also be on tap.

The Children's Museum of Denver might seem like an unusual place for a beer festival, but the institution will host its inaugural — and adults-only — extravaganza, Ales, Apps & Barrels of Fun, from 7 to 10 p.m., when the over-21 crowd will get the chance to feel like a kid again. Guests can sample local beers (including those from Epic, Prost, Little Machine, Briar Common, Ratio, Wynkoop, Fate, Horse & Dragon, Declaration and more), snack on light bites and play in the museum’s exhibits. They can also make their own pretzel necklaces, enjoy child-inspired snacks like soft pretzels, handheld s’mores and other campfire classics, and spend the evening blowing bubbles, launching rockets and painting a vintage VW Bug. Tickets are $35 at mychildsmuseum.org, or $40 at the door. All proceeds support the museum’s educational programming and initiatives.

Saturday, February 3
As part of its Kickass 80s Ski Party, Black Shirt Brewing will re-release its popular Electric Ladyland Raspberry Saison, It will go tap at 11 a.m. and be on all day and night.